The invention relates to a nestable cut flower container for holding cut flowers.
Such containers are known, and widely used in the cut flowers industry, for example for transporting, storing, and/or displaying cut flowers. Typically, the containers, which usually are plastic injection moulded containers, are re-usable containers and are nestable in order to provide for reduced volume when empty. The cut flower containers can thus be nested into each other, which is an important aspect of these containers, for instance in order to store and/or transport empty containers in a space saving and thus relatively cost effective manner.
A typical nestable cut flower container comprises a base and four side walls extending upward from the base and together forming a circumferential wall. At an upper region, said cut flower container is provided with a channel-shaped sleeve holder for holding a protective sleeve arranged to protect cut flowers. Said channel-shaped sleeve holder is typically formed as a substantially U-shaped channel, which is open at its top, and which has an outer channel wall facing outwardly and an inner channel wall being substantially parallel with the outer channel wall. The inner wall of the channel forms the upper wall parts of the four upwardly extending side walls of the container. Each of said four side walls further comprise a relatively high lower wall part, also known as the wall or actual wall of the container. Normally, said lower wall parts are sloping such that the container is tapering in a downward direction towards its base. Due to the sloping lower wall parts, the cut flower container can be nestable. Usually, the inner channel wall is relatively high with respect to the outer channel wall, such that a protective sleeve, which is often formed a foldable strip of sheet material that comprises folding lines, can be supported on the outer side face of the inner wall of the channel when said protective sleeve is pressed there against when it is folded around cut flowers disposed in the container, which cut flowers are then often flaring outwardly, hanging over the channel, and have then thus to be pushed inwardly. The outer wall of the channel is relatively low with respect to said inner channel such that the protective sleeve can be moved over said outer channel wall towards the upper portion of the inner channel wall. In order to counteract a negative effect on the nesting height, the channels, especially their relatively low outer channel walls, are relatively low. A disadvantage of such low outer channel wall may lie in that the channels of two adjacent cut flower containers may slide onto each other, when stacked next to each other on a pallet for example. For instance, when the pallet is transported in a truck, the cut flowers have been placed into a cut flower container, a cardboard protective sleeve has been put into the U-formed upright channel and a lid has been put on the protection sleeve to provide for a surface on which another container can be positioned. These three elements can then typically be strapped together, e.g. by a polypropylene band. Such packages or so-called container assemblies can then be stacked on a pallet, for instance up to a height of about 240 to 250 centimeters, including the pallet. The stacked container assemblies may be strapped together and/or to the pallet, e.g. by a polypropylene band. When a truck drives, a pallet and/or one or more container assemblies thereon can be slightly moving, depending on the space between the pallets and/or the containers of each pallet. When the truck has an emergency stop or is driving on a hilly road, then a bottom of the channel of the adjacent container can slide on the top of the outer wall of the channel of the next container. The pallet then may become less stable. When it arrives at the distribution centre and is unstrapped by removing the strapping, the packages can tilt from the pallet. For instance thereto, anti interlocking flanges, such as corner flanges, have been proposed that extend downwardly from the outer channel wall. These anti interlocking flanges need to have a certain minimal height to reduce the risk of the adjacent containers sliding onto each other. For a conventional container, the anti-interlocking flange rests on the outer wall of the channel of a lower container when said containers are nested, thus the height of the anti interlocking flange may have a negative effect on the nesting height. Nevertheless, in conventional nestable cut flower containers, these anti interlocking flanges thus need a certain minimal height in order to prevent loosing its sliding prevention functionality.